Architects

Thomas Yarrow

Description

What is creativity? What is the relationship between work life and personal life? How is it possible to live truthfully in a world of contradiction and compromise? These deep and deeply personal questions spring to the fore in Thomas Yarrow's vivid exploration of the life of architects. Yarrow takes us inside the world of architects, showing us the anxiety, exhilaration, hope, idealism, friendship, conflict, and the personal commitments that feed these acts of creativity. Architects rethinks "creativity," demonstrating how it happens in everyday practice. It highlights how the pursuit of good architecture, relates to the pursuit of a good life in intimate and individually specific ways. And it reveals the surprising and routine social negotiations through which designs and buildings are actually made.

Sujets

• Sociology
• Architectural theory

Informations

• Publié par: Cornell University Press
• Date de parution: 15 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781501738500
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

ARCHITECTS

E X P E R TISE C U L T U R E S A N D T E C H N O L O G I E S

O F K N O W L E D G E

edited by dominic boyer

A list of titles in this series is available at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

ARCHITECTS Portraits of a Practice

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

Thomas Yarrow

ITHACA AND LONDON

Copyright © 2019 by Cornell University

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. Visit our website at cornellpress.cornell.edu.

First published 2019 by Cornell University Press

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Names: Yarrow, Thomas, 1977– author. Title: Architects : portraits of a practice / by Thomas Yarrow. Description: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2019. | Series: Expertise | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019008031 (print) | LCCN 2019008900 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501738500 (pdf) | ISBN 9781501738517 (epub/mobi) | ISBN 9781501738494 | ISBN 9781501738494 (pbk.) Subjects: LCSH: Millar Howard Workshop. | Architectural firms—England—Stroud. | Architectural practice—England—Stroud. | Architects—Professional relationships—England—Stroud. Classification: LCC NA997.M55 (ebook) | LCC NA997.M55 Y37 2019 (print) | DDC 720.92/2—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019008031

For Joe and Chantal Conneller

And to the memory of Gresham Dodd

Contents

Before the Beginning

Par t 1OFFICE THE Arrival Spaces Between Understanding Architecture A Particular Kind of Practice Openings Listen: First Impressions of the Office

Par t 2 LIVES Between Person and Profession Questions of Vocation Listen: The Greedy Profession Personal Vision Listen: Myths of Origin Designing and Making

Building Friendship Starting to Doubt Reflection: Architectural Lives

Par t 3 DESIGNS A Feel for Place Sites of Design Dripping with History Site Stories Between Reality and Possibility Between Intuition and Exploration

vii

1

15 19 22 27 30 32

39 45 51 53 56 57 61 64 69

75 81 86 95 101 104

viiiCONTENTS

Acts of Design Design Tools Digital Romantics Between Architect and Client Listen: Channeling or Imposing Ideas? Between One and One Another Friends, Colleagues, Competitors Deadlines Magic Moments Listen: Creative Time Reflection: Creativity and Its Limits Interlude: Two Kinds of Uncertainty Listen: Angst in Architecture

Par t 4 PRAGMATICS Petrified Drawing Between Concept and Plan Coming into Focus Listen: Cost and Design Where Knowledge Meets Problem Solving Formality and Informality At the Limits of the Contract Disentanglement

Safe Hands Professionalism Listen: Control and Creativity Time Frame Rhythms of Work Listen: Blocked Reflection: Making Things as They Are

110 114 119 125 132 135 141 145 149 151 153 156 160

165 168 172 177 179 189 196 199 204 210 212 214 216 221 224 226

Par t 5COMPLETION PRACTICAL Knowledge at Its Limits Architectural Expertise Everyday Possibilities Coda: An Argument for Description

Acknowledgments Notes References Index

CONTENTS ix

233 235 239 241

243 245 265 273